


Further Involvement

by bowblade



Series: Dragon Creed [1]
Category: Assassin's Creed, Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-18 21:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1443682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowblade/pseuds/bowblade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Desmond's corpse wasn't the only thing taken by Abstergo. A year later, and Shaun and Rebecca have another task for the research analyst after John's demise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Further Involvement

**Author's Note:**

> Assassin's Creed/Temeraire crossover, in which we have AC and it's an AU with 100% more dragons. This takes place in the Modern time period, shortly after the ending of Black Flag. The research analyst is a perspective for the player, but in this case, has been expanded on as their own person, known as Aderyn Reese. You can learn more about Aderyn here: http://wouldbehost.dreamwidth.org/402.html.
> 
> Second, the dragon Heber is also original, based on a fictitious breed which occupied Masyaf at the same time as the Levantine dragons. She is a direct descendant, and they also have ancestral memories. She has been with Desmond's maternal line for as long as she can remember. (In this case, it is also revealed where her other line stems from, but this is not the dominant one. Living memories of the non-Levantine dragons is noteably more difficult.) After Desmond's death, she stays with the body and is then taken by Abstergo.

It had been two weeks since John's death.

It wasn't like Aderyn was marking the passage of time with that, but it was the only indicator that time had really _happened_. Whilst her fellow colleagues sent e-mails to each other, it was Melanie's solitary one about reimbursing their time in the Bunker that caught her attention.

"Two weeks already," she mused aloud, spinning the chair - with her foot, one inch one way then one inch back - in the confides of her pod. Her headset was in one hand, her tablet in the other. After what had happened with John, after what the - Assassins - had asked to do against the Templars, Aderyn felt somewhat lost. Sure, she had the raw footage sat right in front of her, through the Animus, through whomever Sample 17 had been in life, with Edward Kenway. But it wasn't supposed to effect her in her own life. It was supposed to be something she could distance herself from like the others and treat as fantastical half-fictions. She'd long gone through his life's constraints, but it was with Edward, through those years in which she should research, that she had sought comfort.

He was caught up in something beyond his level of understanding, for his own needs, much like she had been. Become irrevocably involved. Her curiosity had almost destroyed her, and _curiosity killed the cat_ was really not a phrase she wanted to put to the test again, but she was too far in, up to her neck. She'd almost been killed by John for it, almost been taken over by a member of the First Civilization. Conspiracy theories were tied up with myths and legends and she had no real place to turn.

Save to throw her lot in with Edward. But he was just a memory, and a poor person to use as a moral center, but use him she had.

It had also been two weeks since Shaun and Rebecca had offered her work, the same work they'd offered John and the same work that almost had her host to a being that was bent on destroying humanity. It was today that they'd asked her to deliver her findings, or to walk away. If she didn't turn up at midday, they'd know she wasn't interested and leave her be.

She looked at the tablet. 11:54am.

Part of her wanted very much to ignore all this.

But she knew too much. She was past walking away.

Was there even any guarantee that Juno would not try again? That was perhaps the selfish reason, but it was a reason none the less, even if the curiosity was not quite yet tempered.

11:55am.

Aderyn stood, placing the headset on the table, and tucked the tablet under her arm. This action didn't go unnoticed, as the employee in the next booth over - she wasn't sure of their name, they were new, like she had once been, new and unaware - looked up from what they were reading. Aderyn may have been distant from them, showing little desire to "hang out" and more desire to jump into her work instead since the Bunker, but she wasn't cold hearted.

She smiled. "I'm getting coffee. Do you want some?"

*

Shaun was preoccupied. He was half expecting someone, half not - Aderyn was Abstergo's latest favourite pet, that much was certain, a shining star of research and was ear-marked for promotion in the next few months, would likely get her own research team within the next few weeks, and was a viable candidate for CEO. Well, alright, that last one was a stretch, but he learned an alarming amount of information from those who came to get coffee, even if they payed him no mind and continued gossiping with their neighbour. But he _had_ ears, and he was also a validated historian and knew how to find things, so he had plenty of intel on this Aderyn. She was completely untangled in this mess, at least, until she'd walked in through the door and signed up for the project.

Her alliances were yet to be determined, however. It was unclear how much John was blackmailing her, how much was her own compulsion to know what was going on. That made it unclear whether she would show. What had started out as a simple delivery of information had turned into something much nastier; she had every right to back off and not further herself in a conflict that was, oh, only really hers by being a member of the human race, but she had a choice and Shaun wasn't that much of a bastard.

They were both in agreement of that, him and Rebecca. Even if right now, his preoccupation was with his phone, as he'd gotten into an argument with her about something that everyone else would declare as largely trivial but he would declare as being of supreme importance, which was how Americans couldn't spell English properly and now Rebecca was deliberately dropping u's to annoy him.

(This argument happened every other week.)

He was so involved in rapid fire texts that he didn't notice someone at the counter before they tapped their nails and cleared their throat.

Shaun looked up. He was greeted by a brown haired young woman, said hair currently down as it was clean, hazel eyes, red lips, firm gaze, indecipherable thoughts from that very expression. 

"Coffee." Welsh accent.

Aderyn Reese, then.

He was almost surprised.

She didn't say anything else, except pressing her tablet down against the counter, easier for him to casually retrieve the data from as he put his phone away, which he did. "What are you looking for?"

"To drink? One black. One espresso." A girl after his own heart, this one. She ran a finger along the rim of the tablet. "Generally? Answers, knowledge, the past. You know how we're not authorised to tell you more."

"Secrets?"

She paused. "Perhaps."

"In or out?"

It wasn't about where she was taking the coffee.

"In."

Neither was her answer.

He passed her the black, then the espresso. "Check the label."

A brisk nod, and a grateful glance later, and Aderyn left.

*

There wasn't exactly a message on the label, but there was a scribbled number, a string of six, followed by a crudely drawn rectangle. That was the hint, she guessed, for her to put it on the tablet. To anyone unsupposing, it would look like the barista had given her his number. Well played.

So whilst she deposited one black coffee to her colleague who then went in search of friends to drink it with, Aderyn returned to her desk, leaving hers untouched and tapped in the number.

Her earpiece crackled.

"Hey, Aderyn, right? Oh, yeah, it's Rebecca. Don't worry, this is all prerecorded and untraceable, it's all taken care of, I've got you covered. You're probably expecting more requests for information, right? Well, there's that, but we have another request for you, it's a bit more personal to us than the others you've had. I'd ask Shaun to say this but his methods are rather demanding."

"Excuse you," he huffed, but Rebecca ignored him.

"There's something else we asked of John. Something we asked him to find. We asked him on multiple occasions but he said there was too much red tape to get close, that what we're looking for wasn't here, and after him being outed as a connection to Juno we're not feeling so inclined as to accept that opinion."

"In other words, we're not sure how much he was ducking."

Aderyn frowned. She wasn't certain she liked where this was going. Information was fine, sure, hacking had almost targeted her by several parties, and whatever this was seemed to be fairly intense. Not exactly her idea of being _in_ , but...

Shaun continued. "We wouldn't ask if we had another option. But we think there's someone locked up in the building."

That got her attention.

"More accurately, a dragon. You used to write papers on them, didn't you?" (Aderyn only briefly felt phased that Shaun knew that, but then again, she had published them online, that was an open forum.) "You'd likely be interested in this one. Beyond your wildest dreams and all that. But the point is, Aderyn, is that if someone _is_ there, they've been there for over a year and we have no idea what they're doing to them, save assumptions, and none of it is particularly nice. If they _are_ there, we need to get them out. But first, we need to know _where_ they are."

"If you can find them," Rebecca continued, "there are quite a few people who would be put at ease by that. It's not just information, we know that. You don't have to mount a rescue. Just... find them. Find _her_."

"Please," Shaun added. "And you said _I_ was the rude one."


	2. My Head Is An Animal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aderyn goes to find the dragon supposedly under lock and key in Montréal. ( We remember things we shouldn't; we're not quite ourselves anymore. )

It was several days and a few visits to old haunts with her acquired access before Aderyn was able to make good on the request given to her. Actually, the setup was close to being far too perfect. She was asked by Melanie, run off her feet, to go to Olivier's office and retrieve some files from his computer, using her username and temporary password, which came with all the trimmings - freedom to use the entire network. Or, as much access as Melanie had, anyway; Aderyn had long since learnt she was a low wrung of the corporation ladder, as Olivier had been. Either way, that access was enough to grant clearance to restricted areas, which led to decrypting several files and working her way into the database within a matter of minutes. It wasn't long before she found several tidbits; several mentions of a different project, titled simply as "H17", that was connected to the sample 17 project. That was about where the information ended, and it wasn't clear if the specimen it mentioned in the garbled files she was able to recover was a dragon or not, but if Rebecca and Shaun were right, there was nothing else living being kept prisoner like this.

She would need to be certain, however. There were no dates. It was a real possibility that this dragon was no longer being kept here. But as the sample 17 project continued... perhaps she was.

Aderyn made a mental note of the floor. Basement three. Third tier access. Fortunately, she had the last of those, and now, thanks to this little escapade, the access code to get down there to begin with.

It was frightening how well John had indirectly taught her. She'd never had much of an interest in hacking before, more wrapped up in myths and legends and writing about dragons - ask what her favourite view was and she'd always reply dragons at sunset in Wales. It was something she missed in Montreal. Sure, there were dragons, yes, but they were different, and they were not the dragons of home, those that inspired her. She used to spend a lot of time thinking about them, even if now, her collective thoughts were on Edward Kenway. But writing papers on dragons wouldn't put food on the table, much like a degree in philosophy, and Abstergo and Montreal had been her best options. But Aderyn had never particularly considered herself _logical_ , yet here she was, using reserves of that same logic she didn't know she had to disassemble a company piece by piece. Where once she wasn't that enamored with piracy, it was what she was now doing, indirectly following steps of the true details of a life she was supposed to be covering up downstairs.

Even if she vastly preferred the researching part. That's what she kept telling herself, at least. Certain aspects that had been beyond her only months before... now they were her companions.

( _Bleeding effect_ , the rumours round the office would say. Take a day off. Take several. You don't want to start seeing things. )

Aderyn logged off, files attained. For now, she had a mission. For that, she'd go tonight.

*

Leaving Basement three for the evening was a wise choice. No one really thought anything of it if she packed up an hour after work officially ended, saying she was tired, no overtime today, and they'd laugh about it and she'd wave as she entered the elevator, and she'd brush her fingers over the tablet with he acquired access code with where she wanted to go, and voila. Past the aquarium, past the Bunker, and further.

She pressed her back against the wall, facing the exit. She could feel her heart pounding as it descended.

The elevator stopped. For a second, it didn't do _anything_ save whir, until it was plunged into darkness, and silence. There was only a red strip along the wall for company - around waist height - the only illumination left. The elevator's doors slid open.

The room adjacent was lit in a similar fashion, with thin strips of light along each wall and across the floors, all in red. _Blood red_ , she realised. Where once that would have made her insides squirm, now there was only a mild shiver. Edward again. But she continued to move forward, away from the option of retreat. It was difficult to really pin a function on this room, Aderyn thought, as her initial inclination was a cell, but there was no prisoner and it was far too close to the exit for that. Perhaps a briefing area, then. Neither was there a clear answer on the opposing wall, where two doors greeted her. One declared **ʀᴇsᴇᴀʀᴄʜ sᴜɪᴛᴇ**. The other was unmarked.

Aderyn chose the unmarked door.

It wasn't a willing customer. She pushed, she pulled, searching for a rim, searching for anything, until she found a catch, and slowly, painfully, pulled it. She even tried the Research Suite door but that was locked, and unlike every other door in this place, _with_ a lock, and as a good as her privileges were she couldn't materialise a key to open it. The other door was her best bet, but it took time, shoving, heaving, cursing. Eventually, she managed to slide it far enough for her to squeeze past.

She held it with both hands, stopping it from closing, but there was really nothing to hold it ajar. She let it slide home, which again dragged her into darkness, save the eerie red strip on the walls.

Unlike the last, this room was also eerie. It was thin, like a corridor, save several metal fold down flaps - makeshift chairs - on each wall, and glowing tiles underfoot. Why they felt the need for _those_ was a mystery, as she walked along this empty space for several metres until she found another door. This one too, required a key, but fortunately, that was provided in the lock.

Somehow that didn't comfort her any. Whatever was behind the door was enough of a deterrent for them to leave the key _there_.

Her tablet beeped unexpectedly, but helpfully, and Aderyn blinked, looking down. It had brought up a list of instructions, divided into helpful subsections, but truthfully they were dictations. Something about no metal beyond this point and wearing protective suits provided. There was no date attached, and nothing indicative of where said suits were kept - she highly doubted it was talking about the kind you bought at a local mall - but, logically, it meant the room she couldn't enter.

This really wasn't a wise decision after all.

She pushed that thought down. There was no time for regretting or second guessing. She _needed_ to find the dragon. No point guessing what was beyond this door and turning tail for home; there was no guarantee until she found her. Weird rooms were not an indication of a hostage situation. She would have to keep going until she had solid facts - as a researcher should do.

( _As someone reckless and impulsive like Kenway would do._ )

And then again, if there was a dragon on the other side, did she really want to dress like a captor? No. That was ill-advised.

It was also stupid to enter with even the slightest belief that there was a captive dragon on the other side, and her sensibilities screamed at her. She knew what dragons did in this state, or read of it, at least, done research on it, and it was foolish. She knew better than this. At least, she thought she did.

But Aderyn had to know.

( _Damn the curiosity._ )

Slowly, she turned the key in the lock. She heard the _thunk_ of metal retracting, nothing to protect her from harm except a slab of metal that was no longer bolted into place. She placed her tablet on one of the folding chairs. Aderyn pushed open the door, and entered, leaving a gap just wide enough for her - and hopefully not a vengeful dragon - to pass through if she needed to get out quickly.

She tried once again to stop every fibre of her being telling her this was a bad idea. She pressed forward.

( _Breathe._ )

It was a corridor, but at the same time, it was a maze. This place was by far the creepiest. Like the bunker, blue lights were everywhere, embedded into the walls, but they stuttered. She vanished for seconds and the dark ebbed in around her and she reappeared metres away. Some lights were lifeless, dead. Some were overloading, spitting sparks at any passerby, and it was then Aderyn noted the ceiling panels, some torn and chewed like it was a piece of cardboard and not something far more durable. Lights and attaching tubes hung haphazardly from the ceiling; her sensible work shoes echoed against every surface she dared to tread upon. Everything was broken, upturned, damaged. Claws had been scraped down the walls, dried blood smeared across wall, ceiling, floor. Human as well as dragon. It was like she'd stepped right out of everything she'd known of the sterilised, pristine Abstergo and into the openings of a horror movie. _This_ was what they were behind closed doors. Chaotic and destructive, yet somehow unyielding.

The light next to her spluttered. Aderyn flinched. But still she did not turn back.

She didn't turn back when the realisation hit home that this was not where whatever it was was being kept, but the inbetween. Whatever creature she was to face attacked those that went to see it _here_. This was not where it spent its time.

_Not where the dragon spends her time_ , Aderyn reminded herself. Even though it was hard to entertain any remaining sanity the dragon might have, any rational thought, with evidence around her like this. Not that Aderyn could blame the creature - a year of this? A year presented itself to her in the adornments of what would have once been a hallway like any other in this underground network, now so much less, just like the dragon she was to find. A year of this would push anyone over the edge, human or dragon.

The corridor twisted, and Aderyn found herself near retracing her steps. It was designed to cause confusion, to lengthen the amount of time they had to seal the dragon back in, but it seemed redundant now, now that much of it was in ruins, now that much of it was more an obstacle to the captors rather than the captured. She passed what looked to be the sight of a more recent scuffle and was distracted enough with trying to prevent her mind from filling in those blanks that she near missed the door. The final door.

What - who - Shaun and Rebecca were looking for was on the other side. 

Maybe.

Aderyn fumbled at her neck for a moment, and took over her employee ID card. She wrapped it up around itself, smaller and smaller, and then took off her jacket, leaving her forearms bare. If there was a possibility of injury... at least she'd have something to cover it up with whilst she left the compound. Even if facing a dragon with naught but her skin was the most foolhardy idea she'd had yet today. 

_( ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴀ ғᴏᴏʟ, ᴋᴇɴᴡᴀʏ-_

_**Aderyn**. )_

If it was there, it would pin her immediately. She knew that. When had she became like this? She didn't need to ask that. She already knew. But even with all this evidence around her, it was all circumstantial until she found the dragon. She had to know the dragon was still here. Own safety be damned.

_( I am in control. )_

So Aderyn opened this door, too.

*

Where Where Who Coyopa Coyopa Caribbean Mayan Edward Edward Who Is Edward Kenway What Is Kenway Haytham Connor William Not Mine Ours Not This One

Not This One

Side Paternal Maternal Andromeda Together Always Home Farm Home Andromeda William Wrong No Edward Coyopa Reed Bonny Jackdaw Sea Assassins Templars War Juno Gate Precursor Taken She Took Her _She Took Him_ They Took Him He's Gone Door Cell They're Coming Edward _Who Is Edward_ Where Is He Where Is

Desmond

_Desmond_

Desmond Shaun Rebecca Lucy

Templar

Juno

Door

Here

Desmond

Gate

Juno

Desmond

Door

Here Here Here Here 

_They're Here_

*

Aderyn wasn't quite sure what she was expecting, but she was right on several fronts.

One, that she would be knocked down. Two, that she would feel it and hear her before she would see anything, a quivering mass, a skeletal face that cast its own shadows even in the dark gloom that it called home. And the pain, the shooting pain that stormed through her limbs and along her synapses and ricocheted against her pounding head.

For a second she screamed in agony and fear. For a second all she could think of was that Shaun and Rebecca had been right and that the dragon was here and she had found her. For a second every desynchronisation and mistake as well as all those that had been real memories rushed through her head, amplified. For a second she thought it was over.

The dragon didn't move, pressing its face against her own, and it was then that Aderyn stopped screaming, suddenly aware of it, and so it ceased. Now, all she could hear was the hiss, sinister and reverberating through her ribcage.

She wasn't certain why - aside from the initial attack - she was not being torn asunder.

The dragon pulled back, but this was hardly better. This close, even if the dim light, she could see the eyes, eyes far too wide, face far too thin, marked by a thousand needle points and wound punctures that hadn't probably healed. She was a state, she was _dying_ , Aderyn didn't have to see anymore to know that, but she was manic, she was mad, and so it changed nothing of her strength.

Its words were accusatory. "You smell of _her_."

"What?" It slipped out before Aderyn could gather a more elaborate response.

The dragon roared something in - she wasn't quite sure what language, Arabic? - and then something in Japanese, and then French, which she did understand, save the sentence was nonsensical. Finally, it seemed to reestablish its attention back upon the woman pinned beneath its claws, pressed against her chest bones. Not hard enough to draw blood. Not yet.

"The one who took she took him and she wants humanity she will destroy _you smell of Juno_ ," the dragon shrieked, pulling its head back and-

Aderyn instinctively closed her eyes. She knew that movement, had seen it - no, he'd seen it - a thousand times, when one of the Mayan dragons meant to spit poison, even if Coyopa hadn't really meant to go through with it-

-but nothing came. The dragon deflated. "Coyopa," she said, a near echo of Aderyn's thoughts. "Coyopa." She sounded distracted, confused.

For a second, Aderyn didn't reply. How do you deal with this? What do you do with this? But she was here, she'd have to think, make use of that new found logic that she wasn't sure was really hers, make use of knowledge from many years of reading books and watching distant dragons in just as distant fields. Never touching, just seeing, remembering. And so, she decided to deal with this one at a time - the first remark was as good a place as any. "I am not Juno."

"Lies!" unlike the last, the dragon only shook her head, but she kept going, long after she should really stop. Aderyn tried not to think about it. Focus on the matter at hand. Convince her.

"She spoke to me three weeks ago. I didn't understand most of it. Not enough. But I do know the intention was that I was to be her host... her human vessel. But she was not strong enough to do it. I am not Juno. I am Aderyn."

"Aderyn," the dragon repeated. "Aderyn."

"Yes."

"Templar?"

"No."

"Abstergo?"

"Yes."

"Then you are a liar they're all liars she will take you like she took _her_ and then took _him_ you already belong to her you are Juno!"

But this time, even the dragon didn't sound so convinced. She eased up, and then in a split second, fled, retreating back to a corner somewhere in the dark. When she didn't return, Aderyn sat up. The room span, but she stayed upright. She looked at her arm - long gashes, but, she would live, even if blood pooled on the floor. She'd have to get rid of that, somehow... or else think of an immediate escape plan, and she didn't even know if that was _possible_...

Her head ached.

"Coyopa," a voice said from somewhere. "Coyopa."

"She was a Mayan dragon," Aderyn replied tentatively.

"You know Coyopa?"

_( ᴀᴘᴏʟᴏɢɪsᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏʏᴏᴘᴀ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴇ, ᴇᴅᴡᴀʀᴅ. )_

"I know what Edward Kenway's memories showed of her."

The dragon had moved, again, her head just visible. "Edward? Edward Kenway? Desmond? You know Desmond?"

Aderyn shook her head - that was a mistake, but she only grimaced, fortunately. "Only... what files I found on him. Desmond Miles. The forced donator of the Sample 17 Project."

"Desmond," the dragon lamented. "He was mine. I was too late. I could not save him."

Aderyn said nothing. What could she say? She was a spectator. Nothing more.

_( Much more. )_

"They brought us here. Separated me from him. I should not live. I should be with him. But they force me to see Coyopa. They try to take those memories from me. They cannot. This is not what I should remember. Not what I want to - Desmond..."

_( ɪ'ᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ ᴍʏ ᴘᴀʀᴛ. ᴡɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ? )_

She trailed off. This time, Aderyn had something. Not much, but something.

_( ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ, ɪ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ. )_

"What's your name?"

The dragon debated this for an alarmingly long time.

_( ᴍᴀʀʏ? )_

"Heber," she decided.

"Heber," Aderyn affirmed. The dragon's - Heber's - eyes were softer. Calmer, and still; almost trusting, as if it gave her purpose. Aderyn took a deep breath, and then:

_( ɪ'ʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴋᴇɴᴡᴀʏ. ɪ ᴡɪʟʟ. )_

"I'm going to get you out of here."


End file.
